‘Ted Lasso’ Recap: ‘Headspace’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 207 of ‘Ted Lasso’.
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Although humanity has made great progress in understanding the human mind and how to properly care for it, we still consider caring for our mental health to be something of a taboo topic. Oddly enough, it makes sense as to why— we've been taught for generations that our mind doesn't need care; it simply shifts from happy to sad, and the best way to keep it on the joyous end of the spectrum is to focus on happy thoughts or to keep one's mind busy. By doing these things your mind doesn't have to focus on the sad things, and that's so ingrained in our society that the thought of genuinely taking the time to heal one's mind or do activities that maintain its health seems goofy or outlandish, even when science is quickly starting to prove otherwise. Which, of course, begs an important question: How do we shake a belief that's seemingly ingrained in our everyday society?

Well, one such way to shatter that belief is to normalize the importance of caring for one's mental health, and an efficient way to do that is through popular media. That's why this week's episode and season two overall of Ted Lasso deserves our respect and a round of applause; they work to accomplish exactly that type of normalization. Last week's episode made it clear that Ted is struggling with his mental health for reasons that we didn't understand in that moment. Making that struggle a focus at the end of ‘The Signal,’ allowed the next episode in this storied franchise to focus on the importance of taking care of our minds and to have an honest conversation with the audience about how hard it is to do that when the everyday world thinks such kind of care is downright silly or unnecessary.

‘Headspace’ addressed this struggle by way of three key storylines— each one digging into a unique aspect of the overall theme. First, Roy and Keeley's combined journey examined the importance of boundaries and how scary it can be to establish them. Keeley was feeling overwhelmed with the fact that she and Roy were spending every waking moment together now, and all she wanted was a little quiet time, but she was afraid to tell Roy out of the possibility of hurting him. However, after she had a clear line of communication with him, he helped her get what she needed. This segment made a clear point that we fear setting boundaries because we fear hurting those we love or fear receiving a negative response from them regarding our needs. However, if we take the time to explain why we need those boundaries, everything will be okay, and we need do this so that our mental state is balanced and healthy.

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The second storyline explored the negative power of excessive (or toxic) positivity through Nate's journey. Nate was riding cloud nine for making the winning call and being dubbed the 'Wonder Kid.' He became obsessed with the positive response to his coaching style and suddenly boasted an inflated sense of ego. Nate believed that he was above the players and their mentality and was downright abusive because of his inflated sense of self-worth. Well, the lessons inherent in this storyline were quite powerful to say the least. Not only did this segment speak to the importance of maintaining humility in all things, but it also made clear that latching on to only positive things can cause our mental health a great deal of harm and can cause us to lose touch with reality. Additionally, this segment also explored how hard it is to let go of the positive because we're taught that positivity is somehow a cure-all instead of a potential problem— the show deserves serious credit for highlighting this oft-forgotten aspect of mental health care.

But while those two journeys made for a stunning examination of mental health needs and care, they paled in comparison to the most important lesson of all present within this story: Ted's journey. Ted's story in this episode exemplified that the most difficult challenge we'll ever face in maintaining our mental health is seeking out care in the first place. So many people still see therapy as a joke or a scam, and Ted expressed those concerns in a stunning manner— to the point where he disrespected Sharon and her chosen career field. But if we want to get better or remove the concerns swirling around in our mind and our souls, we have to first admit that there's a problem, and we have to commit to a care plan with a professional. And for the first time ever, it seems that Ted Lasso is prepared to do just that. It will be quite interesting to see what comes out of his therapy sessions in the weeks to come.
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If anything, this was another brave and bold episode from an already brave and bold series. It continued to tackle uncomfortable topics head on, and it did so in a manner that was clearly designed to help audience members that might be struggling with their own mental health and might be unsure of what to do. This episode enforces that they should do what feels right: Set up boundaries. Let go of whatever toxic trait is following them around. Or just seek help and feel no shame about it. Regardless of how scary these changes might be, we feel better by making them, and it's impressive to see a sports show bury all that within the framework of a single episode. In the end, all this episode does is leave one eager to see where this season is headed next because this really is undiscovered country for the genre and the show... but also because we're dying to know what's eating at Ted Lasso and what it will take for him to overcome it! Until next time.

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